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I have been having this issue in Ubuntu for a while. The problem occurs when I play Flash content (ie. YouTube or Google Video) and just as the video is about start playing Firefox crashes. This does not happen each and every time though, but its pretty regular.

STEP 2: Open Synaptic Package Manager (System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager) and search for “flash”. In the list find the package called “flashplugin-nonfree” and mark for Complete Removal. Apply the changes and close Synaptic.

STEP 3: Go back to the Adobe Flash plugin you downloaded and install the package. Restart Firefox and your done!

If you use AWN (avant-window-navigator) you either have already experienced the following, or you are yet to …

When using the Stacks Plugger applet to view mounted volumes, such as flash drives, CD/DVD’s and external Hard Drives, you have to right click on these volumes and select “Unmount Volume” from the right-click menu in order to unmount it. However, right above the “Unmount Volume” option there is another option which is “Hide Volume” and many people will end up at some point mistakingly clicking on that option which makes the volume vanish from AWN but remain mounted. The bothering thing about this is that the next time you plug that same device in it will not show up any more in AWN — VERY annoying!

So here is how to get that undone …

NOTE: You can also accomplish this without the Terminal but its much simpler this way.

STEP 1: Open a Terminal (Gnome: Applications > Accessories > Terminal)
STEP 2: Paste this like into the terminal:

gconftool-2 --recursive-unset /apps/avant-window-navigator/applets

and hit “Enter”.

STEP 3: Close the Terminal and close AWN (Right-click on the corner of the AWN Dock and select “Close”)

I have seen this happen on many machines, and the cause can be different, but basically you end up with two entries in the boot.ini file which each call for a Windows boot. So when you boot up your computer you are asked to pick which one you want.

To remove this annoyance you can do the following:

1) Right-click My Computer

2) Click Properties from the right-click menu

3) Click the Advanced tab

4) Click the Startup & Recovery Settings button

5) Here you’ll have a choice to choose your default OS. Usually you don’t need to change it as it will already be on the best one.

6) Most likely, the “time to display list of OS’s” will be checked with a timeout equal to the time your computer waits until it boots without user intervention. UNCHECK that box.

7) Reboot and you should boot directly into Widows without the boot prompt.

The other day I right-clicked on a word in Firefox and selected “Add to Dictionary” by accident. Here is how to rectify the mistake by removing the added entry.

1. Close Firefox
2. Open Nautilus to your Home Folder and click on View > Show Hidden Files
3. Navigate to: .mozilla/firefox/xxxxxx.default
4. Open the file called persdict.dat in the Text Editor and delete the unwanted entries
5. Save and Close the file

2. Select version to download (you should pick “.deb for Ubuntu 8.04+”)

3. Click the “Agree and install now” button. Your download will begin automatically and you will be asked to “Save” or “Open” the file. Select to Save it to your Desktop (or wherever else you can find it easily)

4. Once the file is completely downloaded it double-click it and follow the prompts to install it.

STEP 2:
Open a terminal and launch AlsaUpgrade script with option -d (download the packages only):
sudo sh ./AlsaUpgrade-1.0.x-rev-1.16.sh -d
(this may take some time to download depending on the speed of your internet connection. Be patient and wait for it to finish.)

STEP 3:
Apply the patch with the following command:
sudo patch /usr/src/Alsa-1.0.19/alsa-driver-1.0.19/alsa-kernel/pci/hda/patch_conexant.c patch_conexant.c.patch

With Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex) came the latest version of VLC for Linux. This new version had a more sophisticated interface all together and especially made fullscreen video a lot easier to manipulate. If you are running Ubuntu 8.04 (Hardy Heron) there is no reason why you should not have the latest VLC and here is how to get it.